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US offers support in hunt for Algerian attackers
Source: The Guardian
US offers support in hunt for Algerian attackers
Julian Borger, Kim Willsher in Paris and Felix von Geyer in New York
guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 22 January 2013 20.48 GMT
The Pentagon said that there were "strong indications" that al-Qaida in the Mahgreb (AQIM) was behind last week's attack on an Algerian gas field, raising the prospects of heightened US involvement in the French-led counter-insurgency in the region.
The Algerian authorities said that five foreign workers at the In Amenas complex were still missing after being taken hostage by a jihadist group. Thirty-seven foreign contractors and an Algerian worker were killed in the attack, which was launched last Wednesday.
The attackers called themselves the "Signers in Blood battalion", which claimed to have split off from AQIM last month, but American officials appear to believe that AQIM exercised ultimate command and control on the operation. Pentagon spokesman, George Little stopped short of saying al-Qaida's North Africa affiliate was to blame and described it as "at the top of the list of suspects."
The US defence secretary, Leon Panetta, in a visit to London last Friday, said In Amenas was an al-Qaida attack, and called for pressure on the terrorist network "wherever it seeks to establish a safe haven."
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Julian Borger, Kim Willsher in Paris and Felix von Geyer in New York
guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 22 January 2013 20.48 GMT
The Pentagon said that there were "strong indications" that al-Qaida in the Mahgreb (AQIM) was behind last week's attack on an Algerian gas field, raising the prospects of heightened US involvement in the French-led counter-insurgency in the region.
The Algerian authorities said that five foreign workers at the In Amenas complex were still missing after being taken hostage by a jihadist group. Thirty-seven foreign contractors and an Algerian worker were killed in the attack, which was launched last Wednesday.
The attackers called themselves the "Signers in Blood battalion", which claimed to have split off from AQIM last month, but American officials appear to believe that AQIM exercised ultimate command and control on the operation. Pentagon spokesman, George Little stopped short of saying al-Qaida's North Africa affiliate was to blame and described it as "at the top of the list of suspects."
The US defence secretary, Leon Panetta, in a visit to London last Friday, said In Amenas was an al-Qaida attack, and called for pressure on the terrorist network "wherever it seeks to establish a safe haven."
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Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jan/22/al-qaida-terrorism-algeria-usa
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